Small Home Business Network - What desktop should I get to have as a server.

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I was trying to set up the LaCie device into a $60 second hand Dell Optiplex GX280 but this device does not read drives over 2tb as it reads the lacie as one full drive even when partitioned and set at different raid types.

I tried setting up my old Power Mac G4 but it seems it has a cpu issue and doesn't work anymore - it wont load from the cd drive or usb - tried forcing it through the linux single user but have basic knowledge - can't quite remember the details but something like 8 & 9 ....? .... sorry it's slipped my mind.

So the question is I want to use the LaCie Mass Storage device to be connect to a server machine so that I can access as fast as possible on the network. The lacie has esata, Firewire 800, 400, usb 2.0 - I see that LaCie has bought out a hub with esata to Thunderbolt but I do not have thunderbolt any capable computers.

I'm looking for a cheap machine - what do you suggest???? Please help I am at my wits ends with this......

What is cheap? And what are you trying to serve with this large drive?

If you want it for Time Machine backups there are specific requirements that have to be met (What you hook up to has to support HFS+ and AFP)

The cheapest easiest solution is a refurbished Mac Mini with Server on it. Refurbished Mac mini - Apple Store (U.S.)
If you don't actually need the server software there are cheaper Mac Minis. Right now there is a core i5 with 2gb of RAM for $519 USD in the US store.
That has FW 800 which is decent.

If you want to build a PC I think you could hit around the $500 - maybe even less - and you could put esata on it. That being said - it would have to run some kind of Linux like Freenas which supports Time Machine backups.

It could run Leopard server but then you are saving money buying a old Mac only to loose money trying to buy Leopard Server, which would be much more than the $69 Aus dollars that Lion server sells for

The Lacie will be acting as a work server which needs to be backed up with timemachine. I am a graphic designer and have large working files psd etc. and want fast network response. Between all machines.

Just a question if I was able to get a snow leopard server does it matter that 2 of the machines run os x lion? sorry this may be a dumb question. I've just never had to learn about this until now.

If you want to use snow leopoard or Lion you need to have an Intel Core 2 Duo or better.Apple - OS X Lion - Technical specifications
So if you could find a core 2 duo then it should work. I don't know about hardware issues with the older Mac Minis.

The old G4/G5 processors had something with networking - and I don't remember what it was. Maybe it couldn't do the large frames for Gigabit Ethernet? Someone can correct me on that. Anyway - just so you'd have a longer lasting computer - find a core 2 duo at least.

You don't need server software - if all you want to do is make a file server. You can serve files off of any machine. You don't need Lion Server just to serve files.

If you want to use snow leopoard or Lion you need to have an Intel Core 2 Duo or better.Apple - OS X Lion - Technical specifications
So if you could find a core 2 duo then it should work. I don't know about hardware issues with the older Mac Minis.

The old G4/G5 processors had something with networking - and I don't remember what it was. Maybe it couldn't do the large frames for Gigabit Ethernet? Someone can correct me on that. Anyway - just so you'd have a longer lasting computer - find a core 2 duo at least.

You don't need server software - if all you want to do is make a file server. You can serve files off of any machine. You don't need Lion Server just to serve files.

Serve Files - Is this just buying a desktop plug in and share over the network?
thanks

Apple -> System Preferences -> Sharing -> Check Share files - enable both SMB and AFP and point to which directories you want to share. Or you can use Airdrop to transfer files as well. This is available without Lion Server.